Philipp Scheidemann

Born July 26,1865, in Kassel; died Nov. 29, 1939, in Copenhagen. Figure in the right wing of the German social democratic movement.

Scheidemann, a typographer by trade, joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany in 1883 and became a member of its administrative board in 1911. He was a member of the Reichstag from 1903 to 1918 and again from 1920 to 1933. During World War I he was a social chauvinist.

Seeking to avert a revolution, Scheidemann joined the monarchist government of Max of Baden in October 1918. The November Revolution of 1918 brought about the collapse of the monarchy, and on November 9 Scheidemann proclaimed the establishment of a republic. He became a member of the new government, the Council of People’s Commissars, which sought to prevent the further development of the revolution. Between February and June 1919, he headed the first government of the Weimar Republic. He served as mayor of Kassel from 1920 to 1925. Scheidemann emigrated after the fascist dictatorship was established in Germany.